I have a little Dilemma....  The task of finding a Oscilloscope!

First off...I don't have wads of cash to spend on this and I'm very new at =
electronics in general. =20

I'm going to be looking at Real Time data maybe some AC and One shot =
serial or IC2 transmissions.  Right now I need to debug some Serial =
transmissions but it would also serve as a learning tool...:)  I'm not =
sure if an Analog scope can cover those transient events.  I know it can =
handle sine waves and the like....but two channel sends and receives....I'm=
 not so sure.  So a Storage Scope seems appropriate for those.  Maybe I'm =
wrong.  I don't totally understand that "Trigger"...

I'm a Network Tech by day so having a Computer do the work seems very =
natural for me.  So I went searching for USB devices....

OptaScope is not bad....the price seems fair for 1 M/s.  No AC and DC is =
limited also...it would be nice to double check power supplies...
http://www.optascope.com/
And it might cover me for the Serial and IC2 data.  But at PIC clock =
speeds it's going to start to break down...I can't double check the 4 MHZ =
clock with this....it's just assumed to be working.  And I can't measure =
the delay of an output pulse at that speed either.  Still a contender for =
the money. =20

The next contender is the BitScope...
http://www.bitscope.com/
No way with my current level of electronics could I assemble it...so I'd =
have to buy the assembled kit.  It's more then I really have to spend for =
one but I'd be willing to save up for one if I knew it would be a well =
worth it.  The part about the "BS300 includes compensation for this =
convertor to achieve 100 MHZ bandwidth throughout." is a bit confusing.  =
But hey...even 50Mhz should cover me...  Overall I'm very impressed with =
it.

Ebay has many analog scopes....but few Digital Storage ones.  I'm also not =
really 100% sure I want to go that route...I wouldn't know how to fix =
anything if it had issues.  The idea of Used being cheaper doesn't seem to =
apply to Oscilloscopes...:( =20

In the Astronomy world we have "AstroMart"...the equipment goes for less =
because we are all amateur astronomers and we support one another.  Do we =
have something like that for Electronics?

Also under consideration are handheld scopes.  But not much for storage on =
those.  Gameboy and Palm Scopes are a joke...they cost more then "Real" =
Handheld scopes...!  And no PC....I have PC's all over the place....1.5 =
Gig should be able to run fine!!

Now to me it seems PCI cards would offer the best price.  You don't need =
ram...you can dump it into system RAM!  The processing could be done by =
the 1.5 Gig CPU.  So I went looking....GAGE has some nice cards.  But at =
$6,000 it's way out of my dream range!  My car was less then that!!!  And =
to top it off...you have to buy the software too!!!

Sound cards can't measure DC very well and with very little Hz....might be =
a waste of time..

So that leaves me wondering....what should I look for now.  Are these the =
only options?  Maybe I've missed something?  So that brings me here...to =
where the great minds gather!  An ideas?  My ideal price range is =
$200....but I could save up if I had to....:)

And last but not least....you may have noticed some "Paralysis by =
Analysis"...unfortunately I suffer a bit of that :)

Thanks in advance!
Tim

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